With solid songwriting chops and eminently memorable hooks, it’s no surprise Azari & III have become critical darlings inside and out of dance music circles. Their first singles, “Reckless (With Your Love)” and “Hungry For the Power,” recalled the style and poise of house music’s golden age but were rendered with the gloss available through contemporary production techniques. Since then they’ve issued a slew of remixes for everyone from Runaway to Booka Shade and been signed to Tiga’s Turbo label for a full-length album. But before its arrival the Canadian duo have released appetizers like “Stay Here,” a collaboration with Friendly Fires written exclusively for the latter’s Suck My Deck mix CD soon to arrive on Bugged Out. The tune finds A&III folding their hyper colorful house sound around the UK trio’s synth rock songwriting, even bringing vocalist Starving Yet Full to get his licks in between the lads’ soothing chorus. Bursting with melody and energy, “Stay Here” is almost certainly a highlight of the mix and good portents for Azari & III’s forthcoming LP. Thanks to both groups and !K7 for giving this treat away.

Download: Azari & III & Friendly Fires, “Stay Here”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.